6th June – Bangkok to Phuket

The train journey wasn’t until 7.30 pm so we had the whole day to fill. We went back to MBK to pick up the camcorder and also the second halves of the Lost 3 and 24 series’. Candace got a new skirt and Nick bought a long sleeved top for any cool nights we may encounter way in the future!
Everything was going well until we got to the train station and found that our tickets were for second class instead of first class. We had stressed to the guy who booked them for us at the hotel that we wanted first class where you get a cabin and some nice privacy. Instead what we got was a rather old train with seats that turned into beds with just a curtain across. There was no dining car and we were all extremely disappointed, especially me who had planned and researched the whole thing. The only choice was to grin and bear it or get off and go the following day which would mean us going back to the hotel and paying for another night. We decided to grin and bear it. They made up the beds for us quite early just after we had eaten so we all decided to bed down and read our books. The girls slept fine but Nick and I kept waking up with the noise of other people and for me, worry about the safety of our bags. We arrived in Surat Thani at 7.30am rather bedraggled and managed to grab a couple of yoghurts and chocolate bars for breakfast before catching the bus for the four hour journey to Phuket.
We had decided to stay the first night in Phuket Town as it sounded quite nice and cheap. The plan was to find a house to rent asap. So we found a cheap, clean but very basic guesthouse where we crashed for an hour or two before going out to China Inn for a fantastic meal, just what we needed. We went to see a house that I had been emailing a lady about and decided that it would do if we didn’t find anywhere better as although it had a pool and internet it was not very nice inside, needed a good clean and seemed to be miles from anywhere.
As we were all a bit dejected and absolutely exhausted we all decided to have an early night and hope to find better in the morning.